Anyone taken the REFORMULATED Nature-Throid yet

[magpieannie]

Just checking to see if anyone here has started on the reformulated Nature-Throid yet?  If so, please tell us how it is working for you.

[magpieannie]

bump

[stella5349]

I haven't tried it yet Anne.

[alfonsina]

I am glad someone is asking about that. I posted something a couple of weeks ago about feeling bad before feeling better, but I did not have any feedback. It seems to me that not many people in this forum are taking desiccated thyroid…anyway I think that what happened to me was that I was taking the reformulated formula for naturethroid/weshtroid.
For the first time I started to feel a little better in late January (started treatment in August.)  I needed some more medicine according to my test results so I increased from 1.5 grains to 3 grains in about a month or so. But when I refilled my prescription by the end of January, beginning of February, I started to feel pretty bad. It is being more than a month and I have been taking 3 grains for almost three weeks now and I have been felling awful. I had a sex hormones revolution, acne, bloating, terrible constipation, depression and anxiety among other things. I am still looking for my right dose, but how can I feel worse at 3 grains after I had started to feel better at 1.5?
I am confused and I hate all this reformulation stuff. I am very sensitive to minimal changes in medicines and I am not sure if it’s me (probably I am going nuts) or the new naturethroid/westhroid .
I wish I could take the synthetics because it is easier to get, but I had an allergic reaction. I am tempted sometimes though.
I am curious about if other people taking naturethroid have “felt” this “reformulation.”
What do you mean by “bump"

[magpieannie]

Thanks for responding. When you type" bump", that brings your post back up to the top of the forum without having to type another message. I do this when I really want an answer to my question and I've gotten little or no response. Many people miss posts if they are not toward the top. So, does the Nature-Throid you are taking have RLC on the pill and is it scored for dividing? This is what I have seen on the new pills I just got in but have not used yet.

[annie234]

Hi guys, Here is what happened to me. I got so sick of the shortage with Nature-Throid I ordered  
Erfa thyroid from Canada. I took for about two weeks when my local pharmacy called and said Nature-Throid was in . I decided to try the New Nature-throid
so took for about a week and started to feel that death fatigue thats how I felt on Synthroid. I wondered If it was the nt doing this to me so I started back on the Erfa thyroid and my energy came back. I still don't feel as good as I did on the old nt but I have to give Erfa at least 6 weeks. I take Erfa under the tongue because when I took it as directed I felt very hyper? I have no Idea why. Now I wonder if I should try half nt and half Erfa. I hate to keep switching it makes my body crazy!!

[LazyMoose]

How exactly did you feel on NT (symptoms). And did you get labs done to take some guess work out of going by feeling?  I,ve had a hard time getting used to NT and I think its still the old stuff (marked like the old stuff).

I also have some ERFA as my shortage stash in the freezer. Have not opened though. Was hoping to try to prove that NT works for me, since its localy available here. Like you I seem to be very sensitive to med changes.

[magpieannie]

Do the Nature-Throid tablets you are now taking have RLC on it and is it scored for dividing?

[alfonsina]

Yes, my pills have the RLC on it and it is scored for dividing. I guess they are the new ones.
I am planning to have some bloodwork done in a couple of weeks to see how are my numbers. My doctor suggested switching from NT to Armour because NT was not working for some of his patients. It has not worked for me either since I started in August but I am always thinking I have to give it more time.

But truly, do I have any other option since Armour was reformulated and it is out of the market and, on the other hand, I am allergic to either synthroid (unithroid, etc) or cytomel (not sure to which one or maybe both)??

BUMP

[annie234]

I did not have labs done yet, I do have an appt. with Endo the end of April. I think he will order blood work then. My symptoms from the new NT was extreme Fatigue, very cold low temps around 96.5 all day, My hair started getting dry. Then like I said I started back on Erfa and temp went up to 98.4 just after 2 days. I was also wanting NT to work but since I started the Erfa first I think my body is trying to get use to it. How long have you been on NT? Have you tried the New NT?

[Smilerdeb]

We dont have it here in Oz so cant comment but interested in the good posting.

[annie234]

Yes the NT is scored and has RLC on them.

[magpieannie]

yep- That's the new formula! I hear it also has microchrystaline cellulose (also called micro cellulose) I 'm pretty sure that this is the same change  or close to it that Forest previously made with Armour. I bet their hands were tied and that the FDA gave them no choices here! ("do it or we'll fine you or shut you down") They've done it before to Time Caps Labs and Majors, so they'd do it again! Why else would RLC make the same changes to their med that drove everyone from Armour to Nature-Throid? That would make absolutly no logical since to do so unless they had no chioice in the matter!!!! It seems to me that messing up the meds that have worked better for so many, is just another attempt by the FDA to force us all onto Big Pharma synthetic meds that keep many of us sick with hypothyroid issues/symptoms! If they can't get us to switch with the lies and propaganda they peddle to the world of endocrinology, then trying to ruin our medication is certainly their next scheme! What will be next??? People, we must wake up and quit giving all our rights away to these power hungry government agencies. It's not about our health, it's about the money! The sicker they can make us, the more money they all can make!!! It's  job security to keep us all sick! The ugliness of it all makes me want to throw up!!!!! And my little girl, as many of you are, is caught right in the middle of it all. She cannot take Synthetic T4 medication! She cannot take reformulated Armour! Now I am afraid that she will not be able to tolerate reformulated Nature-Throid! That really doesn't leave us too many choices here for living without a thyroid gland!!!!!!!

[LazyMoose]

I've been on NT since mid December and having difficulty getting leveled. At first I was hypo on NT of about two minths. Then after opening another bottle I went hyper, so now backing down. But both sealed bottles had the old NT markings on the pills.

I felt great in Nov after 4 months on the last Time Caps Labs dessicated to be made and found before the FDA ended its production forever last summer. It was a generic copy of original Armour - so I got used to that. I can say it was different than NT for sure. I believe ERFA is a generic copy of old Armour as well, thats why its just called 'thyroid' in Canada

I would rather prove that NT can work on me since it is made and sold in the US. I'm not comfortable with needing Canadian ERFA Thyroid even if it works. The feds (McCaine and friends) are trying to shut down the border pharma ordering that is going on. If this ever happens, then no more meds of any kind from other countries for the USA.

They even want to stop all supplements to, making all supps needing prescriptions - even regular vitamins. They got shot down big time on that one just recently if you read it yesterday. Once again they are on big US Pharmas side, not ours. Just crazy.

[LazyMoose]

Your saying the new NT now has the same filler as the reformulated Armour? wow.

Conspiracies aside, I dont see how FDA can tell then what to put in for filler though.

Some food for thought:I called Major in August, they said FDA was forcing them to reapply as a new drug and they did not have the $ resources (lawyers) to invest is such a small money generating product. New drug approval costs big $. So Major just said forget about it - it was kind of forced.

As an engineer understanding manufacturing costs, I can say filler choices can determine manufacturing - time and cost to make it - might be the driving factor with NT's decision. Time is cost, cost is everything.

[foreverlostmom]

Hmm well I for one would rather pay a few extra dollars to keep a medication I was taking the same.  Seems it would be easier to increase price then all this.

[alfonsina]

I read that the changes were made to the kind of cellulose in it.
I am not aware of the changes made to armour, I never took it, not the good one, not the bad one.
I have been reading some posts in other sites and most people are felling worse than before.
Shameful.
They win. I am giving up, I can not take this anymore.
I have tried almost everything.
Since I started treatment dessicated has been reformulated twice, backordered, difficult to get, ect, ect.
I am going to talk to my doctor and think very seriously about quitting all toghether.
I keep increasing and never feel good. What is the limit? 10 grains?
I really do not know what to think or what to do.
I am done.

[annie234]

Not sure if this would help you, but I read that some people are chewing the NT for better absorbtion. Maybe give that a try. Never give up hang in there.

[LazyMoose]

I chew it up a little and leave in my cheek. Dissolves in about 15 min then.

What other forums / sites are you reading.

Chances are, if NT did work for someone in the past, they now have to re-dose and adjust, can take three months.

But for some, it can take longer.

[magpieannie]

Don't quite taking your meds. You have to take something so that you don't become severly hypothyroid, that's no good and not the answer. Try taking it the way Lazy Moose has suggested. However, this won't work for my daughter as there is no way I will convince her to chew it or disolve it in her cheek- taste too bad  for a child to do this - yuk! (we tried once) I visited with my compounding pharmacist today and he feels that it is very clear now that it IS the FDA interfering and forcing the changes due to the NDA process. There is a quick one (abbreviated) where the drug stays on the market and a longer pricy one. Of course these manufacturers want the quicker, less costly approval so they do as they are told to do by the FDA. Since desiccated hormone is a "grandfathered in " medication (as these medications were around before the FDA exsisted and have proven itself safe and effective), the FDA continues to make them jump through hoops as they'd just as well like to have them off the market (what better way then to do it through the market place when we no longer will purchase a medicine that doesn't work as well for us, now that the changes, that the FDA required, have been made, it's BRILLIANT!!!! Remember-(no patons on desiccated just like herbs can't be pattonted).The FDA much prefer us all on the synthetic t4 meds who had pattons and lots of money to recoup. I've also heard that many former "Big Pharma" employees now serve or work for the FDA. I'm sure there are lots of kick backs, bribes, deals, grants and monies to be made here by the big influence that "Big Pharma" has on this agency.

[LazyMoose]

Interesting.

FDA interfering and forcing the changes due to the NDA process.

I dont understand why they would make changes for the New Drug Application process.

NDA Its about qualifying the current drug not changing it. Whats missing here?

Is there more up to date info on something other than STTM site?

[magpieannie]

This is what my pharmacist and doctors that I know all believe and feel that the changes in Nature-Throid now following the changes with Armour, prove their theory was correct. I've thought it through over and over again! It must be the reason. I don't think RLC would shoot themselves in the same foot that Forest did just to save a few bucks. Besides, RLC prided themself on their superior , more hypoallergenic with pure USP powder product. They know that everyone switched over to them all at once due to the negative effects that people had with the Armour changes, so why would they do the same unless they were required to???

[LazyMoose]

Well, there needs to be a reason. The filler holds the pill together for shipping (it needs to pass an FDA shaker table test of pre-determined time), but it must also break down in stomach acid. Maybe this was not possible to pass FDA testing with the old filler. This new filler is also used by some compounding pharmacies unless you specify another. There are still differences between new Armour and new NT. Hopefully NT is still better for some. Even the old NT was not the same as old Armour as far as I can tell right now. Lets not sign it off yet.

Time will tell what happened, and how it effects or doesn't effect people.

[magpieannie]

I've got my fingers crossed. Please keep me posted as to how you (when you begin the new N.T.) or anyone else is doing on the new product as you hear reports. Thanks a million!  Anne

[alfonsina]

Thank you all for your advice. I am just feeling frustrated and impotent with this whole situation.

I will try what you suggested.

Lazy Moose, I am geeting more info in the site you mentioned, STTM, and also from Save Natural Thyroid and Thyroid-info.

Thanks Mmagpieannie for creating this thread, very useful info.

I will post my test results when I have them done, along with the old ones, in about two or three weeks.

I would love to continue to know how is everybody doing with the new NT.

By the way, Westhroid, also from the makers of NT and identical to NT according to them, has also a new "face" : RCL on it, did not have it before.

Would not be great natural thryoid advocates went on national television?